With over 8,000 customers in 56 countries, HubSpot is focused on helping businesses find new ways to approach marketing. Dharmesh Shah, co-founder and CTO, says that marketers are looking into how they can transform the way they reach potential customers to inbound marketing. The goal, he says, is to create “compelling content that draws people in and using context to help convert those people into customers.”

By analyzing data on multilingual Twitter users and Wikipedia editors and on 30 years’ worth of book translations in 150 countries, researchers at MIT, Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Aix Marseille University have developed network maps that they say represent the strength of the cultural connections between speakers of different languages.

This week, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they show that a language’s centrality in their network — as defined by both the number and the strength of its connections — better predicts the global fame of its speakers than either the population or the wealth of the countries in which it is spoken.

“The network of languages that are being translated is an aggregation of the social network of the planet,” says Cesar Hidalgo, the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation Career Development Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and senior author on the paper. “Not everybody shares a language with everyone else, and therefore the global social network is structured through these circuitous paths in which people in some language groups are by definition way more central than others. That gives them a disproportionate power and responsibility. On the one hand, they have a much easier time disseminating the content that they produce. On the other hand, as information flows through people, it gets colored by the ideas and the biases that those people have.”

There was a lot of misconception about how to properly measure PR and what factors should be included in the formula. It is time to introduce a new formula, which will take into account the behind the scene factors as well, and not just what can be observed from a customer’s perspective.

PR is not just about a numbers and values; it is also about the qualitative factors which include relationships in and outside of your business; brand awareness and how your business is perceived by others. In essence, PR is a complex value related system which should give you a clear picture of how your business ranks in the corporate world.

Tom George's insight:

Quite a good post here with some excellent PR tips #publicrelations #pr

“When I was getting started, I didn’t want to build a company and I didn’t know anything about building companies … The thing that got me through it and I think gets a lot of people through it is the people around them …. Companies that have more founders are actually more likely to have a successful outcome, and one of the reasons for that I think is it’s just really hard to do anything on your own like this.”

“One of the things that I think the media gets wrong about companies or inventions or things over time is they try to make it seem like one person did it.”

Tom George's insight:

What do most tech CEO's have in common? It's their ability to take chances, and deal with risks. If you are not failing now and then, quite simply you are not trying hard enough. Have you ever failed at anything?

There are 284 million monthly active users on Twitter and chances are, you're one of them -- we're certainly are. Unfortunately, just because all of us are active on Twitter doesn't mean we're using it the right way. And thanks to SocialBro, we have new data from over 200,000 corporate tweets to prove what works on Twitter ... and what doesn't.

While some of it confirmed what we suspected, we were also shocked by some of the results. Have a read below and let us know if any of these stats were surprising to you, too...

Pinterest is becoming a popular way for small businesses to promote their brands and get their names out there. But using Pinterest to successfully market your business by drumming up interest in repining your content isn’t as easy as it looks. There is more to it than simply having a good product. Take some advice from these 20 brands who are successfully using Pinterest and getting thousands and even millions of followers.

Tom George's insight:

Pinterest is without a doubt something that every company needs to look at, to try to figure out the most effective way to use the 3rd largest social platform. Here are 20 or so great ideas and real world examples of how some of the worlds most successful companies are using Pinterest. Hope you find some inspiration on the post for ways to use Pinterest for your business, I know I did.

Late last Friday Facebook announced that next year it will begin cutting the reach of brands' unpaid posts deemed too promotional. It was the latest in a string of moves by the social network to reduce the advertorial cutter in its users' news feeds. But instead of screaming bloody murder like it did two years ago when the first studies showed brands' organic reach was shrinking, this time Madison Avenue's collective reaction was cool.

A good timely article and spot on. Facebook certainly has become a bit promotional, so some might say them controlling the news feed with more pertinent posts from friends and family might be best. There is little doubt however that there are still a great many people on the social networking site, so it would be best to learn how to use Facebook white hat.

The cloud, big data, the internet of things, and wearable technology have all featured heavily in Forrester’s latest list of fifteen technologies to watch before 2020.

It is becoming a reality for businesses that they need to adapt and change to an increasingly technologically-minded customer base. Traditional marketing campaigns are decreasing in effectiveness as customers take advantage of greater choice, while companies’ ability to anticipate business needs for emerging technology is getting demonstrably worse. Mobile technology has forced enterprises to rethink completely how they win, serve and retain customers, meaning their business strategy is under increasing pressure to find ways to address new digital competitors – some of which have become serious threats overnight.

Tom George's insight:

Forrester research has done an excellent job in this article identifying the 15 new and emerging technologies that will be present in 2020. It is very important to stay tuned into the changing technological landscape. They have also neatly broken them down into four main categories, of which my favorite of course is

A handful of companies offer free and paid online reputation management services for consumers and businesses, including Reputation.com and Brand Yourself. In addition to using these services, or in lieu of them, both small and midsize businesses and enterprise digital marketers can take strategic steps to ensure their companies' online reputations are solid.

Tom George's insight:

I great article with some actionable steps about how to stay on top of your companies reputation online with some very good reputation management tools. A great read.

It’s been one of those weeks. Your once clean and shiny desk is now piled high with towering stacks of miscellany. You can’t even remember the last time you actually saw its surface. Your calendar has been missing for weeks, so it isn’t surprising you missed a deadline and a meeting so far this week – and it’s still just Wednesday. Much like your desk, your email inbox is a virtual pile of unread emails, and you have no idea when you’ll get to them. And you know you jotted a prospect’s contact information on a Post-it… if only you could find it.

If your weeks are starting to resemble that scenario more often than not, perhaps it’s time to admit to needing a bit of help. Running a business is hard work, and it’s tough to do it alone. Even if you are a one-man or one-woman show, you don’t have to wear every single hat.

Still not convinced? Here is a list of warning signs that you just might be ready for a virtual assistant:

Tom George's insight:

So I have been thinking of getting a virtual assistant lately, and like with any other decision you must collect the facts, and learn the right questions to ask. This is a great article that will help you decide if it's time to hire a virtual assistant for your business.

There is a seismic shift in how you as a business should be creating, thinking and evolving in the 21st century.

It revolves around the virtual world that cannot be touched but it is as real as any physical object. It is such a big shift that many business owners are ignoring it because they either don’t get it or are afraid of it.

It’s also called digital technology.

Here is a tale of two retailers. In it we can see a glimpse of what the implications are of either embracing the digital world or just playing at the edges.

In the USA Nordstrom is a brand that is investing heavily in technology and building its online brand assets. Over the last 3 years it has invested more than $2 billion in technology primarily aimed at making it easy for customers to buy online. That is 50-65 per cent of its cash flow. But sales have increased 50%. Its share price is up 200%. It is obvious that they get this social digital web.

The department store Myer on the other hand has invested very little in its digital presence and assets over the last two years in comparison. Its sales are flat and the share price is down 50%.

Which one would you invest in? Is business extinction a real possibility for one of them?

Tom George's insight:

Jeff Bullas is spot on in this article. Here he speaks about the importance of digital marketing for any business that wants to succeed in the 21st century. Do you know the difference between your owned media and earned media? Read this article, it's a very informative post.

In this podcast which is part of an amazing ongoing series of highly informative short digital marketing videos from Jay Baer, from his excellent digital marketing podcast series called “Jay Today”, Jay Baer discusses the importance of having high quality images in your posts and content marketing.

I like the series, and what I especially like about it, is that each one provides such high value and deep insights into digital marketing in only around three minutes.

Marketing through social media, content marketing or even email marketing requires a sense of creativity.

Even if you’re not exactly the creative type, marketing to your target audience is easy because you imagine what they would want or what kinds of ads they would like to see and you create them, or so you think.

With the help of surveys and questionnaires, you can get to the bottom of what it is your customer truly wants but are you really showing things the consumer can relate to or are you only relating your marketing through your eyes?

What the customer wants?

Tom George's insight:

A very interesting perspective on marketing from Tabitha Naylor of TabitahNaylor.com She goes on to explain why it's important to begin to understand your company through the eyes of the consumer, and explains how to get started.

Ghosh was also able to demonstrate that the frequency of Smartphone usage influences cortical activity. The more the Smartphone had been used in the previous ten days, the greater the signal in the brain. This correlation was the strongest, i.e. proportional, in the area that represented the thumb.

Tom George's insight:

Daily life causes changes to the brain not yet understood, the study of these factors will provide insight on how brain plasticity works.

“This is a big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise, and we can’t wait to see the exciting new ways organizations will put iOS devices to work," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The business world has gone mobile, and Apple and IBM are bringing together the world’s best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses redefine how work gets done.”

Tom George's insight:

IBM and Apple partnered last year, and they have now released the first wave of apps for business enterprise solutions. Business has gone mobile, and together IBM and Apple are partnering to deliver cutting edge tools to get business done in the new digital landscape. A must read article. I personally like the retail app, but there have been ten new apps released now.

Now that Apple and IBM are working closely with each other, look for new ways that Apple's iOS and other media can be used in business and marketing. The world of mobile business transactions is about to change. Aloha, Russ.

Jacob Gube, founder and editor-in-chief at Six Revisions notes that business websites are boomingwith great, user-friendly publishing (e.g WordPress.com, Wix, etc.) and ecommerce platforms (Shopify and Bigcommmerce), which largely facilitate website creation and maintenance. “Thus, even small businesses that have struggled in the past to have a website because of resource and financial constraints are now finally going online,” notes Gube adding that this has made it “much more viable for businesses to discover new ways of generating revenue.”

Moreover, Gube gives an example of Nike as a company that managed to capitalize on ecommerce and that keeps coming up with innovative ways to drive their consumers to their website, rather than to physical stores.

Tom George's insight:

A very interesting article which captures the essence of why and how companies are now turning to responsive websites and just better overall website experiences in general for their customers. Consumers have almost come to expect this, and will feel alienated if they do not get a good responsive website experience.

With the year coming to a close, it’s time to look ahead into what awaits us in 2015 and how we can spend the rest of the year better preparing for it.

Rather than just include my own predictions, as Community Manager for the CEO Registry’s SocialMedia.CEO community of social business leaders, I decided to reach out to the social media CEOs and see what their vision holds for all of us.

Tom George's insight:

10 great predictions about social media and consumer behavior in 2015. Many of these predictions revolve around mobile.

I was googling for hours to find interesting content to read on how to build a startup. But finding the right information was quite a challenge for me because everybody can produce content on the internet. But who is the guru? Who do you trust? This is a big issue online nowadays. I contacted my friend Christiaan Henny who already started his startup eFaqt.com and asked for his advice about resources and tools. I started bookmarking all these interesting websites I came across. This pretty much got out of hand and now I have talked with over 50 entrepreneurs and collected over 330 resources.

Tom George's insight:

This is just an amazing collection of resources and tips on the start up process. I can tell you from experience that having great ideas is important and the right place to start, but without the proper execution they are pointless. People maybe able to copy your ideas, but never your execution of them.

Building a following for a brand page on Google + is not easy - and building a following that is targeted, interested and engaged in your brand, product or service may seem next to impossible; however, there are tools that can help you identify and follow potential fans in your niche.

I manage several brand pages and have observed many others; I am convinced that there is a "tipping point" that you need to achieve before your page will begin growing organically. I also believe that this "tipping point" cannot be achieved (or at least would be much more difficult to achieve) by following people at random or simply by being included in shared circles.

Tom George's insight:

A great post here by this social media strategist, who has figured out a much more productive way to garner followers on Google Plus. She gives a real world case study which is awesome.

This is a great post by Christine Degraff on how to go about building up the right following on Google Plus. Tons of valuable information here, as well as her real world case study on how she is kicking butt on Google Plus. Be sure to give it a read and let me know your thoughts.

TSU is a new social network that’s aim is to change the way you use social media. Their users claim TSU to be changing the ‘Facebook paradigm’. The site launched October 21st, and some say it is the next big change in how we use the internet. The basic premise of the site is to share it’s ad revenue with the actual people who are creating the content, it’s users. This idea appeals to some, and turns others away immediately. I usually sign up regardless, just to see what’s going to happen.

Tom George's insight:

I think its great that new social networks are popping up. Is it fair that the social media companies such as Facebook make all the revenue? What do you think? TSU is a new social network that plans on paying it's users. You read that right, the CEO of the company has said that he will giveaway the lions share of the profits to the users.

We’re guessing the smartwatch is much easier to use than Google Glass. They also seem pretty similar to a smartphone, with a screen-based UI interface. Personally, I’m reminded of Dick Tracy and his watch, with his two way radio and such.

While you may not be interested in looking like a spy or a private detective, as a marketer you’re probably thinking of how this will impact local search. The real question is, what kinds of marketing opportunities exist, and will it change the way people navigate local search?

While we can’t really tell how it will change the search landscape now (unless you’re a fortune teller!), we can only do our best to guess what is going to happen.

Tom George's insight:

Wearable technology is going to be absolutely huge. Positioning your company to consider how something like a smart watch will work with your local marketing is prudent. A great article on what's to come in a very short amount of time. Do you own a piece of wearable tech yet? Let me know in the comments.

Very few founders, startup CEOs, board members, investors, and others supporting the entrepreneurial community actively pursue and advocate disciplined, professional leadership development. This is an enormous missed opportunity.

Entrepreneurs, especially founders and startup CEOs, need not wait to be encouraged to do this work. They should not consider their own development as a nice-to-have, an indulgence, or an unnecessary expense. They certainly should not delay until their jobs are threatened by their poor performance.

Here are seven reasons (among many) that every founder and entrepreneurial CEO should actively develop their leadership, and a question about each.

1. Leadership development works

Studies consistently demonstrate that organizations with a developmental mindset and holistic leadership programs out-perform organizations that do not. (See the Center for Creative Leadership for some excellent research.)

Tom George's insight:

One of the better articles I have read on leadership in a while. Yes leadership is something that must be worked on and developed. Imagine that! Just imagine for example how your attitude and responsibilities will change as you go from an emerging and budding entrepreneur, to team member, to being responsible for a larger organization. How will you learn the tools of leadership? Here are several great steps.

If you were told there was a new drug on the market that could help you live longer, make you feel better mentally and physically, help you lose weight, improve your sleep, increase your confidence, give you a better sex life and make you more efficient at work – all without negative side effects – would you not want to be the first to try this drug?

Tom George's insight:

No leader can perform their duties to the best of their abilities without feeling healthy and energized. The best way to accomplish this is through exercise, and a proper mental attitude. As a professional fitness trainer for over 15 years, the author makes some very good suggestions, (eleven to be exact) about how to get your exercise done. You can learn more about what I do at http://www.shapeshifterfitness.com

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.